Assembly attempts a power grab

The Anchorage Assembly should not give itself the authority to remove a mayor from office. Such a decision should only be made by the voters.

The Assembly is currently scheduled to consider a measure giving itself such authority on June 1. If passed it would give the Assembly a power advantage over a branch of government that is supposed to be its co-equal. And that would be an inappropriate acquisition of authority, one that could undermine the integrity of our municipal form of government.

Such a change should not even be considered by a branch of our government. Only the people who compose the electorate should have that power. Otherwise the members of one branch of government would theoretically, if not practically, be able to bulldoze another branch. And that could cause great harm to the public welfare.

The democratic system of government relies largely on the news media and community leaders to keep the public apprised of any threats to the integrity of the community involved, and that includes state-level government. By and large the news media do a good job of keeping the public informed. That keeps the ax always in the air and available for use when needed.

If the news media fail in their constitutional responsibilities, the public should and probably would kick their collective hind end. It is, of course, possible that the media might drop the ball and fail in its obligation to our political system. That could happen if the public doesn’t understand what is at stake.

If that happens, the system is designed to be self-correcting. It might take some time before mistakes are identified and corrected and government put back on an appropriate course. But the option exists and will always be out there when the community wakes up and fixes the problem.

The issue came to the fore when Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson drew the ire of some Assembly members with his decisions on budget cuts, decisions that went against the wishes of some liberal members of the body who wanted to spend more.

Leading the charge against Bronson’s budget-trimming decisions was Assembly member Chris Constant, who said Bronson has ignored the city code “in a substantive way” numerous times since he took office.

Constant said he is not trying to maneuver Bronson out of office or seize undue power. He claims he just wants to establish “clear bumpers on the boundaries of his power.”

But, counters Mayor Bronson, “Mr. Constant’s ordinance will do nothing but divide our community further and give enormous power to the Assembly, enabling them to remove any mayor — not just me — but all future mayors for any reason the Assembly deems to be a breach of public trust.”

It can be difficult to sort out decisions that are essentially political from those that really are matters of importance to a democratic system. But we need to make the effort whenever there is a need, and keep in mind that the system is designed to identify and correct problematic attempts at manipulation when they are made.

The system is well-designed and corrective measures are always out there somewhere when they are needed. It may take time and experience to determine whether course corrections are appropriate and get them in the works, but the option is there.

The issue will be on the Anchorage Assembly agenda for next Wednesday’s meeting. Voices will be heard and some will be louder than others. Let’s hope the mix of anger and high-pressure rationale does not lead to bad government decisions.

But we must acknowledge that bad decisions by public bodies are always a possibility and the need may arise to correct them.

If that need should arise we can only hope — knock on wood — that good people will step forward and get our community headed in a better direction.

Having the Assembly assume the power to boot the Mayor would be a violation of the public trust.